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RNA's role in the cell, James Watson

Description:

Interviewee: James Watson.
After solving the structure of DNA, James Watson started working on RNA. He talks about what he thought of RNA and its function.
(DNAi Location: Code > Copying the code > Players > James Watson and Francis Crick > What does RNA do?)

Transcript:

I jokingly used to say, well it was either the template for protein synthesis or it was there to control the viscosity of a cell. Now the latter was a private joke between Francis and I, 'cause he'd spent several years measuring the viscosity of cells, something for which I think he later realized was a total waste of time. So I said it's a template. So when we had the double helix and realized how information in DNA was copied, then I thought, well you could transfer information from a DNA molecule to an RNA, you would separate the DNA strands, but instead of making another DNA strand on it, you'd make an RNA strand.